You can save at least three strokes per side without even hitting the ball. Here is how I lost four in eleven holes yesterday.
I’m still playing abbreviated rounds while I recover from my two back surgeries of a year ago. My gas tank isn’t very big yet. So yesterday I went out with two friends, and played 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 17, and 18. The course we played is laid out so it is easy to take breaks at these points.
On the first hole, I had an easy chip for my par and left it way short. I just got too careful instead of hitting the chip like I do in practice a 100 times each week. 1.
On the second hole, I got shy again, and left a made-to-order 90-yard chip 15 yards short and in a bunker. 2.
On the eighth hole I hooked my drive into a bad lie. Instead of hitting out with an 8-iron to take my bogey, I tried for the whole show with my 4-hybrid. One bad stroke led to another. 3.
On the tenth hole, I mis-aligned my drive and hit it way right. I misaligned my pitch into the green and hit it way left. I scored the Trifecta by getting shy (again!) with a garden-variety chip. 4.
Four shots lost that had nothing to do with ball-striking and everything to do with not using my head. I was six over for those eleven holes and could have been only two over without breaking a sweat.
Believe me, I will make the most of these object lessons.